The Assistant
by Aedammair
Summary: What happens when Jack decides to try his hand at matchmaking? Hilarity, that's what.
1. Suggestion

These characters do not, in anyway, belong to me. However, they're fun to play with. I hope you read and enjoy, or just plain read. This is set between the end of Season 8 and the beginning of Season 9, before SGC changed hands. Have fun!

* * *

General Jack O'Neill had, on occasion, been the proud owner of some fantastic ideas. Meatloaf Mondays definitely fell in the top three. It was his most recent idea, however, that had Colonel Samantha Carter pausing to take notice. Literally, in fact, with her cup of coffee stopped halfway to her lips.

"Excuse me, sir?" she asked, confused. The coffee cup wavered slightly.

Jack frowned. "I said Daniel needs an assistant." The perturbed look on her face didn't go away like he had thought it might. Instead, it deepened. "What? You don't think it's a good idea?" He lifted a spoonful of oatmeal to his mouth.

She frowned. "Honestly, sir? No, I don't."

The spoon never made it. "Carter, I'm a general. You're supposed to agree with me."

"You mean lie to you."

He pointed the oatmeal-encrusted spoon at her. "Thin ice, Colonel." He put the spoon in his mouth and smiled around it.

She, too, smiled and acquiesced a little to the discussion. "Why does Daniel need an assistant?"

"Have you seen his office? I'm surprised he can find himself in there, much less something directly related to his job." He pondered that for a moment, then raised an eyebrow at her. "Tell me again what his job is."

She grinned. "By assistant, you really mean maid." She finished her coffee, now cold.

"Organization is key, Carter."

"Which is why you still have personnel files from six months ago collecting dust on the corner of your desk." She took a grape from the bowl in front of her and popped it in her mouth.

His wit left him. "We're talking about Daniel," was all he could manage and it earned him another grin, which was a reward within itself.

* * *

The subject of much discussion was, at that moment, riding in the elevator with a dark haired woman carrying a briefcase. Daniel took a moment to assess his elevator partner and had to admit she was easier to stare at than a Phoenician tablet.

She wore a pair of tailored khaki pants and a full-necked dark green sweater. A brown and green plaid jacket was draped over her arm and there were small silver hoops in her ears. Her hair was black and fell in waves to the middle of her back. Her face was freckled, so much so that she appeared tan at first glance. Her eyes were shielded by thin purple-framed glasses. Everything about her was unique and at the same time very much out of place for the SGC. There was a visitor's badge attached to the strap of her briefcase.

"Welcome to the SGC," he said without really meaning to.

She glanced sideways at him and smiled. "Thank you."

"Business or pleasure?" Seriously, what was he thinking?

"A job opportunity, actually. I have an interview with General O'Neill."

Daniel nodded. "Don't let the crusty exterior fool you. He's generally a good man."

"Really." She made the word sound like a challenge.

Daniel smiled slightly. "I've worked with him for eight years. Never a dull moment." On impulse, he stuck out his left hand. "I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson."

A flash of recognition passed over her face as she turned towards him but in the blink of an eye it was gone and a warm smile had settled in its place. Her eyes were gray, he noted, and ethereal. She took his hand in her own.

"I'm Dr. Aeda Harrison."

The elevator slowed to a stop and she released his hand. The doors opened and they stepped out into the slightly deserted corridor.

"You wouldn't happen to know…" she began.

"Where Jack's office is?" She smiled and nodded. "Just follow me."

They arrived a short time later at the open door of Jack O'Neill's office and found him sitting behind his desk playing with a yo-yo. He looked up when Daniel knocked on the door.

"Jack, this is Dr. Aeda Harrison. She's here about a job."

Comprehension dawned on Jack's face and he motioned for the woman to enter his office. "Daniel, don't go too far."

"Okay," he said, drawing the word out in sudden worry of what Jack had planned. He shut the door.


	2. Welcome Aboard

"I'm glad you could make it on such short notice," Jack said once they were alone. Aeda smiled and nodded. "How's your father doing?"

"Much better since the transplant. He's taken up jogging, which is annoying my mother. They send their love."

He smiled slightly. "Good. How'd you meet up with Daniel?"

"On the elevator, actually. He called you crusty."

"I suppose I am sometimes. You'll be working with him if you take the position."

Aeda shrugged. "He's seems very nice, very gentlemanly."

"He's a pain in the ass, and he's stubborn." He said it as though it was a warning.

"It's not as though I haven't dealt with that personality type before, Jack."

He laughed. "Good point. When can you start?"

"Monday. I need to get back to Boston and finish up some things with the department. I'm officially on sabbatical."

"Unofficially?"

She smiled. "I've been asked to take a leave of absence and reevaluate my career goals."

He stood when she did and they walked slowly to the door of his office. "Who'd you piss off this time?"

"The head of the Physics department. Dr. Winkenstein."

"I think I'd change my name." He opened the door as she laughed and they stepped out into the corridor. Daniel was at the end, consulting a stack of papers with a corporal. "Daniel!" Jack shouted. The younger man's head popped up from the papers. "I'd like you to meet your new assistant, Aeda Harrison." At the look on his face, Jack turned to Aeda and said softly, "Good luck, chuck."

By the time Daniel reached them, Jack was back in his office and the door was not only closed, it was locked. Daniel turned away from it and looked at Aeda with an unhappy smile. "I'm not sure how to proceed with this," he said and kicked himself mentally for sounding like a pretentious ass.

She smiled. "You could start by buying me a cup of coffee. I've been on a plane since yesterday. If I don't get some caffeine soon, I'm going to start taking hostages."

He nodded and they made their way down the corridor to the mess.

* * *

"You ran inside your office and locked the door?" Samantha asked. Jack had asked her to meet him for lunch in his office without really explaining why until she'd sat down with her Greek salad and had already put a forkful of it in her mouth.

"Hey, we both know he's a wiry guy." He sounded defensive and childish. Sam was having a hard time not laughing at him.

"You're a General and you're his boss. I don't think he would have hurt you." She speared an olive. "So who's the woman?"

"What woman?" This time, defensive and guilty.

She smiled. "The new assistant. The woman you interviewed."

"Oh, that woman." He grinned. "She's a daughter of an old friend of mine. Dr. Aeda Harrison, her father is –"

"Admiral Belvedere Harrison."

He was amused by the reverence she placed on the man's name. "The one and only, thank God. After consulting with the Joint Chiefs and deciding that an assistant would be an acceptable addition to the SGC, I called Bell and asked him about Aeda."

"I've heard her name, too. She's a professor of Theory at Harvard. I've read a bunch of her articles on quantum particles and –"

Jack cut her off with a look. "Please, no big words before dessert. Anyway, she's on sabbatical until the beginning of the fall term and she agreed to come in and work with us." He picked a tomato out of his Cobb salad and put it on the plate between them. She ate his tomatoes and he ate her onions. It was all very domestic and yet, he appreciated it about their lunches. "Have you met her?"

Sam shook her head. "No, he's been holed up in his office with her for the last couple of hours. Teal'c has, though. His opinion of her was that she's very beautiful but sad."

"That guy is so deep," he said and picked another tomato out of his salad. "Her father almost died a year ago. He needed a heart transplant and they had trouble finding him one. He's just now getting back up on his feet. She lost her husband three years ago, around this time actually, to cancer if I remember right."

"No wonder she's sad." She dropped a couple of onions onto the plate.

Jack shrugged. "She's actually not, at least not anymore. I remember flying out there for the funeral. She didn't go to it, she couldn't even leave her bed and it was months before she actually left the house. You wouldn't think it to see her the way she is now."

Sam smiled suddenly, gently, taking him off guard just slightly.

"What?" he asked.

"There are times that you amaze me and times that you frustrate the hell out of me. And then there are times that I remember just why I enjoy working with you so much."

"Good thing the door's closed," he said with a smile.

"They're enough alike that in the end, this could be good for everyone. You made a good match, sir."

"Don't go spreading it around. You'll ruin my reputation for being crusty." He reached out and speared an onion ring just as she reached out and speared a tomato. "And every once in awhile, you amaze me, too."

He was pretty sure she blushed.


	3. Easing In

She had cleared off a small portion of his workbench, mostly by straightening up the papers and piling them up away from her, and had claimed it as her own. Daniel was seated across from her, and every so often he would glance up to find her engrossed in a translation or a book he thought he'd lost weeks ago. She was good at finding things, he'd realized, and together they'd set about the task of retrieving a rubbing he'd done of a section of inscriptions from a tomb on Abydos. It had been buried at the bottom of a stack of papers he'd labeled "Get To Sometime" a couple of months earlier. Of course, at that point, they weren't an integral part of something important.

He glanced at his watch and was surprised to find the little hand pointing at the six. He could have sworn that twenty minutes ago it was only two o'clock. "Aeda, it's six. You're free to go if you'd like."

She slowly looked up from the book she was current perusing and smiled at him. "I was free to go when I got here. I don't actually start work until Monday. In fact, I had a flight to catch-" she checked her watch "two hours ago."

His eyes widened behind his wire-rimmed glasses and he frowned. "Why didn't you say something? You should have told me or at least kicked me in the shins to let me know you needed to leave."

She laughed. "I work at Harvard, I study universal theory, and I've never encountered anything like what I've been exposed to today. Please, wild horses couldn't have torn me away from this office." She shrugged. "Besides, I called the airline and rescheduled my flight for nine tonight."

"Do you need a ride?" What was it about this woman that made him ask silly questions, questions that teenage boys asked when they were hormonally crazed over a teenage girl?

She smiled. "I have a rental car, actually. But thanks for the offer." She slid off the stool and smoothed her hands over her pants, which appeared to be wrinkle invincible. For a minute, he lost all ability to think clearly. She pulled her hair up and secured it with a clip that came out of nowhere. "I do think, however, that I'll be pushing off. The drive to the airport will take about an hour and I'm famished."

He smacked himself lightly in the forehead. "I completely forgot about dinner," he said.

"Don't worry. So did I. There's a café along Pearl that I'll stop at and grab something." She pulled her coat on and buttoned the top button. The collar stood up slightly and gave her a regal appearance. "You're staring, Daniel."

He blinked a couple of times and flushed, instantly embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm hard to offend." She pulled the strap of her briefcase on over her head so that it settled diagonally across her chest. "Thank you for the coffee and the wonderful day and I will see you in a week, bright and early."

"I'll walk you out," he said and stood.

At that moment, Jack appeared in the doorway to the office and smiled at its occupants. "No need, Daniel. Aeda, I wanted to speak with you for a minute if I could."

Aeda nodded, then turned to Daniel. "I believe the translation you were looking for earlier is in that book." She pointed to the tome she'd been studying earlier. "Page six hundred, near the bottom of the page. I marked it with a note."

She exited the office and Jack followed her, his hand on her back, guiding her away. For a split second, Daniel experienced an emotion he hadn't felt in years: It was jealousy, green and ugly. He stepped on it quickly and took the book from where she'd left it.

* * *

The airport was desolate, the weekend travelers having reached their destinations that morning and the business crowd having stormed the terminals that afternoon. It gave her time to consider her day, but more importantly, it allowed her to eat the fresh bagel and cream cheese she'd gotten from the Pearl Street Café. She couldn't go to Boulder and bypass the café. It was unheard of, sacrilege even.

Jack had walked her to the elevator and had commented on only one thing: she should feel free to wear jeans when she arrived at work on Monday. His reasoning was that if he wasn't in uniform, he was in jeans and she didn't have to wear a uniform. It wasn't logic, but it suited her just fine. He had punched the up button and had stood back.

"I owe you, Jack," she'd said quietly while they'd waited for the elevator to arrive.

"There's nothing to owe, Aeda. You're my goddaughter. You've been through more hell than any twenty-eight year old should have to suffer. If this is what you need to forget the past, then by all means come on down."

She'd smiled. "What a way with words."

"I do what I can." The elevator dinged its arrival and the doors slid open. "Let me know if you need help moving. I'll send Teal'c around – you'll have to feed him, of course, but he's strong as a moose." He'd kissed her forehead, then, and she'd found herself surprised at his tenderness. "Go on, go home. And tell your father to return my phone calls. Just because he's retired doesn't mean he gets to travel more." He grinned.

She'd stepped onto the elevator. "See you in a week," she'd said and had been pleased to see the genuine smile that made its way to his face as the doors closed.

She finished her bagel and tossed the parchment wrapper away in a trashcan nearby. A copy of her newest article, a work in progress, sat next to the newest Robert B. Parker novel in her briefcase and she was forced to choose. It was a long ride home; she'd need something stimulating to keep her mind off the fact that she was flying.

She chose to work on her article in the airport. After what she'd seen today, universal theory was boring.


	4. Moving In

The cabin was at the far end of the access road, nearer to the lake than Jack's but on the same side. He'd found it for her, had suggested it as an option, and had been surprised when she'd sent him money for the deposit. He was waiting for her on Saturday when she pulled into the gravel driveway with a trailer attached to her ancient Range Rover. She'd hadLeroy - that was the Rover's name -since college and it had been old then, but it was her pride and joy and it ran better than his newer truck.

"I was surprised when you said you'd drive out," he said when she got out and closed the driver's side door behind her.

"I had furniture to bring with me. Plus, I couldn't leave Leroy behind." She patted the Range Rover's hood affectionately.

"Where's Bear?" he asked, referring to the mongrel she'd gotten from a shelter the year after Tim's death.

She smiled and went around to the trunk. Upon opening it, the oversized lab/boxer mix barreled out of the car and made a beeline for the trees at the edge of the drive. "He loved Yellowstone, lots of trees to piss on."

Jack stepped down off the front porch and met his goddaughter halfway. She gave him a quick hug and they waited for Bear to finish his business. When he had, he trotted over to Jack, sniffed his shoes, and sat down on the ground in front of them. Jack scratched his ears. "Good dog," he said and Bear's stubby tail wagged crazily.

"Carter and I came by yesterday and aired the place out, winterized it a bit, just in case. There's some groceries in the fridge and cabinets, and I brought you down some fly rods in case you get bored." He pointed to the trailer. "What's in there?"

"Clothes, bedding, dishes, and a couple of chairs." She went around to the back of the trailer and unlocked it. "And, of course, Bear's dog bed, his food, and his toys."

"He has toys?" he asked as he walked around to stand beside her. "I always assumed he chased cars for fun."

She laughed. "Well, one toy really. My dad gave it to him when webrought him home from the shelter." She pulled a ragged doll dressed in an Air Force uniform out of a black tote bag and tossed it to Bear, who caught it in mid-air and shook it slightly.

"You're father's a sick man. You know this, right?" He watched as Bear trotted over to a shady place and lay down to gnaw on the doll. "Just don't bring him on base. I don't want to explain why he attacked only the people in uniform."

She laughed. "He's fine. Don't worry."

A black Suburban pulled up the drive and parked on a patch of grass at the end. Teal'c and Daniel stepped out on either side.

"Good timing," Jack said.

"As always, O'Neill," Teal'c replied and bowed his head slightly. "Good morning, Aeda."

"Good morning, Teal'c. Daniel." She smiled warmly at them both. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but where is Colonel Carter? I haven't met her yet."

"She's getting breakfast," Jack said and hefted the oversized red plaid pillow that served as Bear's dog bed. "She's very good at missing out on all the hard labor."

As Jack headed up the steps into the cabin, Teal'c reached into the trailer and took out a chair.

Aeda made to warn him. "It's heavy, you may want…" She started, but her voice trailed off as Teal'c picked the chair up with ease and set off for the cabin. She looked over at Daniel. "Jack wasn't lying when he said 'strong as a moose'."

Daniel laughed. "He's a big man."

Jack arrived, with both Teal'c and Bear in tow, and tossed a set of keys at Aeda. "You'll need those," he said and took a box out of the trailer.

"Who's this?" Daniel asked as he crouched down to meet Bear.

Aeda smiled. "That is Bear, my only child. Bear, say hello."

Bear barked once, licked Daniel's cheek and wagged his stubby tail. "Charmed, I'm sure," Daniel said as he wiped slobber from his face. Aeda giggled and Daniel found himself very much enjoying the sound of it.

It took them a little more than a half hour to get everything out of the trailer and into the cabin. True to Jack's observation, Samantha arrived just as they were setting the last box down in the living room. She carried a box of donuts and a box of coffees.

"Good morning everyone," she called out cheerily as she entered the cabin.

"I'd be mad at you for missing out on the moving if you didn't have donuts in your hands," Jack said with a small smile. As he took the boxes from her hands, Aeda noted the subtle body language between the two of them and smiled to herself. Jack disappeared into the kitchen. "Samantha Carter, this is Aeda Harrison. Aeda, that's Sam," he hollered from the kitchen.

Aeda smiled broadly at the tall blond woman before her. "I've heard volumes about you," she said.

Samantha returned her smile and the two women shook hands. "The same goes for you. I'm a huge fan of your work. I've read your article on quantum particles more times than I can count."

Aeda laughed. "The _Journal of Universal Theory_ article?" Sam nodded. "I wrote that just after I got to Harvard. It's an awful article, especially in comparison to yours on wormhole theory. The equations alone –" She was cut off by Jack's reappearance.

"Girls, girls, enough big words. There are donuts in that kitchen that are demanding to be eaten." He offered his shirt as evidence, which was covered in white powder. "However, if you're looking for the jelly ones, I think I ate them all."

Samantha laughed and followed Daniel and Teal'c into the kitchen. Jack and Aeda lingered in the living room. "We'll get out of your hair in a little while," he said, "let you get settled in and whatnot."

She shrugged. "Actually, it's kind of nice. Like an extended family."

He eyed her suspiciously. "Trouble at home?"

She shook her head. "Quite the opposite, really. I've just been so busy, and Saco just isn't as close as it looks on a map."

"You're homesick."

"A little," she conceded.

He pinched her cheek, just like he had when she'd been a little girl. "Buck up, soldier and welcome to the family."

She smiled. "Thanks. Now let go of my cheek, you crusty old man."

The three SG-1 members in the kitchen were amazed at the laughter they heard coming from the living room. Not because it was loud and genuine, but because it sounded a lot like General O'Neill.

* * *

A/N: Saco is a small town in Maine. A great place to retire, especially if you're an Admiral in the Navy like Aeda's father. Read and review - I love to get those little announcements that say "You have a new review." It makes me feel like...you like me, you really, really like me. sighs dramatically :-) Thanks! 


	5. A Bit of Crankiness

_Okay, you guys rock. The reviews have been awesome and the feedback has been great. I'm thinking this is going to be less of an adventure and more of a laidback cozy story. So snuggle up to the fire (if you're somewhere cold) or the air conditioner (if you're somewhere warm) and enjoy the story. Thanks!_

_They're nowhere near being mine and never will be. Well, except for Aeda. She's mine, through and through._

* * *

It should have come as no surprise to Jack O'Neill that his goddaughter and his archeologist would eventually butt heads and in truth, it didn't. He knew that, at some point, they'd disagree and the war would start. However, he didn't realize it would be two weeks into their tenure as man and assistant. If he had, he'd have hired the prepubescent boy the Joint Chiefs had originally offered him. Seriously, the man was twenty-three, greener than Kermit the Frog, and his voice cracked on every other syllable. It wasn't a hard choice. 

It was a Thursday, and he and Teal'c were on their way to lunch – they always had lunch on Thursdays – when Jack had the genius idea of inviting Aeda and Daniel to come along. So they stopped into Daniel's office and were consequently just in time to watch Aeda tear a piece of paper into very tiny pieces and toss them up in the air.

"Don't you think you're being just a tad bit immature?" Daniel asked, his voice dripping with disdain and sarcasm as the snowfall of paper rained down upon him and the workbench.

Aeda smiled sweetly. "What? The theory was utter rubbish, you said so yourself."

Jack recognized the tone of voice as one Aeda's mother used – quite often, actually – when good old Belvedere was being a stubborn ass. Carolina Harrison could be a scary woman when crossed and it had become apparent over the years that her daughter had inherited that trait.

"Uh, so, what's new?" he asked, hoping to stop the war that was starting to build.

Neither occupants of the office garnered him a glance. Instead, they continued the battle.

"I didn't say it was rubbish. I said it was foolish." He arrogantly brushed a piece of paper off his shoulder.

Two rosy spots appeared on Aeda's cheeks. Bad news. Jack leaned over to Teal'c and whispered, "Ten on the tiny one." To his credit, Teal'c didn't offer a bet but instead smiled and watched the verbal sparring match with great interest.

"I'm a theorist, _Doctor_ –" the emphasis she put on the word was harsh enough that even Teal'c flinched, his eyebrow raised. "So when you ask me to create a theory based on what you've given me, chances are I'm going to go with the most radical option simply _because_ of the things you've put in front of me. If the theory's foolish, then it's the information that's ridiculous, not the outcome."

As though by a twist of fate, Sam chose that moment to join the melee. "What's going on?"

"Daniel called Aeda's theory foolish. She's a little…perturbed."

Sam glanced over his shoulder at the two combatants. "Aren't you going to do something?"

"I'm considering getting some popcorn," he said quietly.

Sam shook her head, but said nothing more.

"That information is not ridiculous. It's a six thousand year old text. I translated it myself."

"Maybe you translated it wrong."

"And just what would you know about the Ancient language?"

"Enough to know that _this_ –" she pointed to a symbol that none of the onlookers could see – "means 'child of life' not 'child of god'."

To his credit, Daniel looked at the symbol. "Oh," he said. To Aeda's credit, she didn't gloat when he nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Well, then, I guess your theory isn't as foolish as I thought."

"That was somewhat unsatisfying," Jack said and immediately wished he hadn't because with the fight over, the two warriors were aware of their audience and neither one looked all that pleased that they'd been observed.

"Can we help you?" Daniel asked in a tone a little harsher than a general deserved.

Jack let it slide and smiled. "We're headed to lunch. Hungry?"

Aeda frowned. "Not really."

"Me either."

Jack shrugged. "Your loss." Teal'c and Sam turned away from the doorway and started the short walk down the hallway to the mess hall. Once he was sure they were out of earshot, he took a couple of steps into the office and said, very quietly but loud enough to be heard, "Either get along, or I'll drop you both on PX-823 and you can sort your differences out from a Hell Prison. Understand?"

It was a tone both of them were familiar with – it begged no arguments, no ifs, ands or buts, and was instead simply meant to be agreed with, though not verbally. Conscious of this, they both nodded and Jack's smiled returned.

"Good. Now don't forget to eat something. I know I'm always a little hungry after battle." He left the office with the sense that he'd just disciplined a pair of children.

* * *

Daniel waited until he was positive Jack was gone, then turned to Aeda. He took his glasses off and let them sit on a pile of papers between them. "I owe you an apology," he said. 

She took her own glasses from her hair and set them next to his. "No, you don't. You've been doing this a whole lot longer than I have. I should have told you about the translation before working on the theory."

He stared at her with something akin to amazement. "Huh?" It wasn't intelligent, by any means, but it was about all he could manage.

She smiled slightly. "I hate being wrong. I hate being told that I'm wrong. It's why I don't get along with my colleagues at Harvard. It's why I'm on 'sabbatical' for the next year." The air quotes were almost enough to make him laugh. "I'm sorry I tore up the theory and threw it at you."

He blinked steadily for a minute or so and then, finally, came to the realization that he should say something – especially because she was beginning to look worried. "You threw it up in the air, actually. It really just…landed on me."

She looked at him, her head cocked to the side. "You're a wicked smart ass," she said.

"And you're more stubborn than the goat my parents let me keep track of when I was eight." He saw the puzzlement in her face and smiled. "I tied it to a post outside our villa in Thebes and it chewed through the rope and got inside. Then, every time I would try to pen it up, it would find a way inside. Stubborn."

"Are there serious mental side effects from Stargate travel?" she asked, only slightly serious.

He laughed. "It depends on who you use as an example. Take Jack for instance."

She laughed as well. "You lived in Thebes?"

He nodded and then a sudden realization hit him. They had shared the same space for two weeks and he knew almost nothing about her. Plus, he was fairly certain she knew next to nothing about him. Time to remedy that.

"What time is it?" he asked.

She glanced at her watch. "Quarter past one. Why?"

"We're going to take our lunch off-base." He stood and grabbed his glasses. "Come on."

She spread her hands out and indicated the workbench. "What about the translations and the theory?"

He shrugged. "They'll be here when we get back. Come on."

"If I lose my job…" Her voice trailed off as she picked up her glasses and set them back on top of her head.

He took her coat off the hook near the door and helped her into it. "You won't. Trust me."

She turned around and without really realizing he was doing it, he did the top button for her. She watched his fingers work the wooden button through the hole and then looked up at him. His mind shut down on him.

They were in closer proximity of each other than they ever had been. She smelled like cinnamon and some other spice that he couldn't name. His heart sped up a little and his fingers wouldn't let go of the button even when her fingers reached up and covered them.

"Lunch?" she asked, a hint of a smile playing at her lips.

He nodded, took a step back, and swallowed. "Right. Lunch. Let's go."

If he'd asked, he would have found out that Aeda's heart had sped up a little and that at that moment, Daniel had smelled like wood smoke and sage, a smell that reminded her of Boston. At that moment, he'd smelled like home.


	6. Lunch & Dinner

_Okay, in response to some of the reviews I've gotten: Ihave no ideahow close Colorado Springsis to Denver, or even what the layout is, but I thought if Aeda had to drive to the airport and had to go anywhere near Boulder, she'd stop in and eat at her favorite restraunt if she had time. _

_Also, I'm a New Englander, born and raised, and our favorite adjective up there is "wicked" - that and it just adds a little bit more to an insult or a congratulations. Like, "wow, that was wicked awesome," or, my personal favorite "wicked frickin' sharp"._

_Enjoy and thanks for the reviews!_

* * *

"Sir?" Carter said as she quietly knocked on the General's office door. "You wanted to see me?"

He looked up from the folder on his desk and smiled. "Come in, Carter." She did as she was told and sat down when he motioned for her to do so. "I have an idea that I want to bounce off of you."

She smiled slightly. "Me, sir?"

He nodded. "Of course. You're the only one in this place that I actually, truly, value the opinion of. That and I know you won't sugar coat it, so…"

The smile increased, along with a rosy glow to her cheeks. He loved it when she blushed – it made her look less like Carter and more like Sam.

"Well, then, go for it, sir."

He sat back in his chair and folded his arms against his chest. "I'm thinking of retiring."

Her eyes widened and it was painfully obvious to him that she was expecting something different entirely. "Oh."

He shrugged. "I'm old, Carter." While that was true, it wasn't the real reason.

"Right." She didn't seem to be taking it as well as he'd expected. "Who would run the SGC, sir?"

Another shrug. "I don't know, but I'd make sure it was someone worthy of the position. Besides, it's just an idea. Nothing concrete."

They sat in silence for a minute or so and Jack took the time to watch the woman across from him. Eventually, she'd ask him the real reason and eventually, he'd tell her. But not in his office, with the real world listening outside the door.

"What's going on this weekend?" he asked and noticed that it seemed to startle her out of some kind of reverie.

"Um, nothing really. I was going to visit Cassie on Saturday but she cancelled. Boys," she said with a familiar smile. "Why?"

"How does dinner at my cabin sound?"

There was an obvious spark of interest in her blue eyes. "That sounds good. I'll tell Daniel, who'll tell Aeda, and Teal'c."

He nodded and she stood, headed for the door. He called her name and she stopped, turned back towards him. "Come a little early. There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Another idea, sir?"

He grinned. "Kind of."

* * *

They were sitting on a bench at the edge of the park with a loaf of bread between them. They each had huge cups of soup in their hands and were, for the moment, getting along reasonably well.

"So tell me about the Admiral," Daniel said around a mouthful of soup.

Aeda laughed at the face he made as the realization that it still wasn't cool enough to eat. She had realized, back in the office, that something about him was endearing to her. In fact, she hadn't felt this much at ease with a man since Tim, and even then there were times when she had felt nervous or uncomfortable around her own husband.

"Ah, yes, Belvedere," she said with a smile.

"Belvedere?"

"He hates the name. My mom calls him Bell, and pretty much so does everyone else."

"What's he like?"

"Surprisingly, nothing like the Admiral so many people know. He's never once treated his family like they were a bunch of soldiers – although my brother could have used it once or twice growing up. We've always been his family, his wife and his daughter and his son." She blew on her soup, wishing it would cool faster. The Colorado air was cooling quicker than the cup in her hands. "His heart failed him about a year and a half ago and they put him on the transplant list. He almost died before they came through – a young woman died right down the street from the hospital and made my father a very lucky man."

When she looked up from her cup, Daniel was staring at her, his face a mask of different emotions. She surprised that pity wasn't among them.

"Do you miss Cambridge?" he asked.

She laughed shortly. "I miss the feel of Cambridge and Boston and New England in general. The older I get the less homesick for my family I become, but I'm always homesick for the places I've been. Every significant memory I've made in the last ten years had been in New England."

"I feel that way about this place."

"What about your parents?" she asked.

His eyes lost a little of their brightness and there seemed to be an old sadness in them. "I lost my parents when I was eight. They were killed in a museum accident, of all things. I saw it, tried to stop it, and couldn't."

"Kindred spirits," she said with a small smile, which he returned. "So tell me about Thebes."

He nodded. "We lived there for a year when I was six. My parents were Egyptologists and they were working on a dig at the Valley of the Kings. I used to play in the pyramids." He dipped a small chunk of bread into his soup and considered it. "An Admiral for a father – you must have been a world traveler." He popped the bread into his mouth.

"We definitely moved around a lot, though most of it was within the states. I did, however, spenda good portionof my teenage years in Europe, starting with Italy."

"Italy?"

"Aviano. My father was stationed there for three years when I was twelve." She tested her soup – just about cool enough to eat. "From there we went to Spain for six months, then to England for another year, and we finally settled in Portland, Maine when I was seventeen."

"Is that were everyone is?" He, too, tested his soup but it still wasn't ready for consumption.

"No. My brother still lives there, but when my father retired, he and my mother moved up to Saco. They live on a lake now, in a beautiful log cabin that my father and two uncles built." She smiled. "Your turn. What brought you to the Stargate program?"

He sighed. "I was part of the original team that went through it to Abydos, about eleven years ago. Jack and the other members came back. I stayed on the planet and married a woman named Sha're. That's the condensed version."

She allowed herself a second of panic. "Oh," she said quietly.

"Then, about eight years ago, the program started again and Jack came back to Abydos through the gate. I had just lost Sha're to a…disease and when Jack and the team went back to Earth, I went with them. So did Teal'c, actually."

"And Sha're?" she dared.

He smiled sadly. "She died later that same year."

"My husband Tim passed away three years ago from non-Hodgkins."

"Kindred spirits," he said quietly.

She nodded. "I was a wreck for a year. I stayed in bed, I pretended the world didn't exist, and I justforgot to live."She thought back to the day Jack had opened her bedroom door, had poked his head in, and had told her to basically get her ass out of bed and rejoin the world of the living. It made her smile. "Truth is, if it hadn't been for Jack, I never would have made it."

His eyebrow rose. "You knew Jack before now?"

She smiled. "He and my father have been friends since they started in the military. Jack is my godfather."

"Oh."

She let it sink in, let him decide for himself what course of action he should take. It could be unsettling to find out that your new assistant is basically the niece of your boss. So, she ate her soup while he considered it. Finally, he looked at her and smiled very faintly.

"I should watch my step then," he said softly.

This time, she didn't need to be inches away from him for her heart to speed up – she only needed to see him smile.


	7. New Beginnings

Sorry it's taken so long - writer's block is a bitch! I hope you like it, though I'm kind of iffy on it myself. I am, however, a purponent of constructive criticism, so send it along.

Not mine, yadda, yadda, yadda...

* * *

The sun was slowly setting over the lake and Jack was taking full advantage of the view. Behind him, he could hear Daniel and Aeda playing with Bear. He smiled out at the water. It was a beautiful fall day and he was glad that the house had been full of people. It had almost made him reconsider his decision. Almost.

He heard footsteps on the dock and he turned to see Sam walking towards him with a smile and a couple of longnecks. She handed one to him and settled into the deck chair beside him. "I've got to admit that I've never seen a prettier sunset," she said. He nodded but said nothing. "I cleaned up the kitchen, so you're not drowning in dishes. Teal'c is over watching Aeda and Daniel play with Bear and I'm just about ready to go home."

He turned to look at her. "I'm sorry about earlier," he said softly. Their pre-dinner conversation had not gone exactly as planned. He'd told her a little more than he'd intended and they'd…kissed in his kitchen. He'd known it was unprofessional, but at the time, he hadn't really cared. Now, he was just worried it had changed things.

She flushed – he could see it even in the dusk – and shook her head slightly. "Nothing to apologize for, sir."

He flinched a little at the "sir" usage. "Call me Jack, Sam."

If her head had turned any quicker, it would have snapped off. "Did you mean…any of it?"

He laughed, reached out and took her hand. "Do I ever say or do anything that I don't mean?"

"No," she said and squeezed his hand.

"I love you, Sam. If retiring is what it takes, I'm ready for it."

She lifted his hand, kissed it. He held it to her cheek. "I love you, too," she said.

He leaned across their chairs and kissed her. When he pulled away, she was laughing. "What?" he asked.

"Gift of the Magi," she said.

"Sam, I'm basically a stupid person. You're going to have to explain that to me."

She laughed harder. "I asked for a transfer to R and D – I wanted to have the conversation we had before dinner a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't figure out how to do it."

"It's a wonder we haven't made ourselves crazy," he said and kissed her again.

They were interrupted by a Frisbee whizzing past their heads and into the water. Before anyone could stop him, Bear raced after it, running past Jack and Sam and nose-diving into the water. The splash soaked both Jack and Sam, both of whom could hear Aeda and Daniel laughing in the background.

Bear retrieved the Frisbee, bounded out of the water, and returned it to its rightful owner, Aeda. Unfortunately, he waited to shake off until he was standing in front of both Aeda and Daniel.

"Bear, you're my kind of dog," Jack said to the bouncy Boxer. Bear's response was to shake even more, spraying them all with water. Teal'c watched from the porch, an amused smile upon his normally placid features.

"Karma's a bitch, Danny," Jack said and patted Daniel on the shoulder as he and Sam walked up to the house.

Aeda couldn't help but notice that Jack's hand never left Sam's back and that when they walked past the picture window, he kissed her shoulder ever so lightly. It brought a smile to her face.

* * *

October came and went with Jack announcing his retirement for the first of the New Year and Sam announcing her transfer to Research and Development shortly thereafter. It didn't really have the surprising effect that they thought it would – apparently, they were the only ones who hadn't yet figured out their emotions for one another.

November was equally uneventful, though the chair of the Physics Department at Harvard contacted her just after Thanksgiving to tell her that Winkenstein was retiring and as such, she could come back from sabbatical after Winterim finished in February. She spoke with Jack about it, who of course urged her to go back.

By the first of December, she had made the decision to return to Harvard, though she hadn't told Daniel. Their relationship had, at some point, extended beyond the boundaries of supervisor and assistant. They were friends, perhaps working towards more, and she was fearful of telling him that she was getting ready to leave in a couple of months. She didn't want to leave him in the lurch – he'd become amenable to the concept of an assistant, and had therefore come to depend upon her – but at the same time, she had a life back in Boston. So, she kept her returna secret.

It was close to Christmas when Daniel met Aeda at the elevators one morning. It wasn't altogether an odd occurrence. Sometimes, he'd meet her with two cups of coffee, sometimes he'd be passing by at the right time. What made that day so out of the ordinary was the huge and goofy smile that was splayed out across his face.

"Why are you smiling like that?" she asked, a little wary.

His grin widened. "Because, I have a very early Christmas present for you waiting in the gate room." He fell into step beside her.

"If it's an ancient tablet from another planet, you really shouldn't have."

He laughed. "It isn't an ancient tablet. It's much, much cooler."

They reached the gate room and he slid his card through the access panel. The doors opened and they stepped inside. Jack was waiting for them with a very large smile on his face.

"Did you all take the same drugs this morning?" she asked as they neared the General.

"And good morning to you, too, Sunshine." He held out his hand. "Your briefcase, please."

She handed it to him hesitantly. "What's going on?" she asked.

As if in response to her question, the Stargate began to dial a set of coordinates. When it wooshed outward, Aeda couldn't help but take a step back. Daniel reached out his hand and steadied her.

"Holy crap," Aeda said and received a round of laughter from those in the gate room. "Does it do that every time?" Jack nodded. "I've never seen it active…"

"Aeda Harrison, as General of this base, I hereby allow you to step through the Stargate." He winked at her. "Sounds so official, doesn't it?" he asked with a grin. "Daniel is going to take you on a little field trip."

Daniel's hand pushed at her back a little and propelled her forward, up the ramp and toward the watery blue surface. "Just to warn you, it's a little disorienting."

Aeda, who had heard Sam's explanation of just what traveling through the gate did to a person, looked over at him. "You think?" she asked sarcastically.

He grinned. "Ready?" he asked.

On impulse, she reached out and grasped his hand. He squeezed it lightly. "Okay," she said. Together, they stepped into the event horizon.

The first sensation Aeda had was of falling. The second was of landing and not being prepared. Her knees buckled and she pitched forward. If it hadn't been for Daniel's arms, she would have landed face first on a stone platform.

"It takes some getting used to," he said. He held onto her until she steadied herself. "Welcome to PX-823, my favorite of the Stargate destinations."

Aeda took a deep breath. The vast expanse of land in front of her seemed to lead endlessly towards a pointed set of mountains far off in the distance. It reminded her of British Columbia, except for one small difference – there were two moons shining, casting a violet twilight over the wooded land. Two purple colored moons, like giant balloons in the sky.

She was speechless.

Daniel was looking at her, obviously waiting for a response, and unfortunately she had nothing to say. It was too beautiful.

"In all this time, I've never seen you speechless," he said with a laugh.

She pointed, her voice returning. "Can we walk…out there?" He nodded and she hesitantly walked down the steps.

He watched her step out onto the ground, her eyes wide with wonder. She stood still, surveying the world around her. When finally she turned back towards him, her face was lit up with a brilliant smile.

"I take back all the mean things I've ever said about you," she said.

He laughed and bounded down the stairs to meet her. He stood next to her and they watched the remainder of the sun set behind the mountains in the distance. As the vibrancy of the moons intensified, she turned to look at him.

"I need to tell you something," she said softly and he turned his face to meet her gaze. "I've been asked to return to Harvard after the Winterim."

His face betrayed nothing, but even in the darkness she could see disappointment in his eyes. "Oh," he said. "When would that be?"

"February," she replied. A sudden shiver cascaded over her and she noticed for the first time just how cold it was without the sun.

He reached out and rubbed the uppers of her arms. "Well, at least we've got two months. We'll just have to make the most of it." He smiled at her.

If asked, she wouldn't be able to put into words her reasoning for her actions that day. She'd only be able to say that it felt right and at the time that was all that mattered.

Aeda Harrison, the logical, rational person that she was, threw caution to wind on PX-823. She grabbed Daniel by the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her level and she kissed him. Imagine her surprise when Daniel Jackson, the logical, rational person that he was, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back.


	8. The End

This is probably the last full chapter. Don't worry though (I'm sure none of you are, but just in case), there's an epilogue in the works and it should be up by the middle of next week. Thanks for sticking it through!

They're in no way mine - I'm just not that lucky.

* * *

"Jack, what the hell is this?"

Jack looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. Aeda was holding a greenish-blue orb in her left hand. He smiled at the object. "Ah, that is a trouble maker. You have to be very careful not to drop it or it pings off the walls forever. Kind of like a six year old on a sugar high."

She looked at it and very carefully set it back in the box. They were slowly, but surely, clearing out his office. Technically, he still had three days left before the end of his tenure, but he wanted to get everything out and in boxes to make the move easier.

"When do you leave for DC?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Sometime next week. They set up an apartment for me. I'm going to keep the place in Minnesota, though. City life is just one of those things I'm not accustomed to."

He'd been given the position of liason between Homeworld Security and the SGC. The good news was that it allowed for him and Sam to actually pursue each other without the threat of discipline. The bad news was that it took him to DC while Sam went to Nevada. The thing that Aeda found odd was that neither one of them seemed at all worried.

Sam arrived at the door as Jack dropped a stack of papers into the recycle bin. She had civilian clothes on and a stack of boxes. "I've brought extras," she said.

"How's your office looking?" Jack asked as she set the boxes down beside his desk.

"Empty," she said with a frown.

"Well, you could always stay," he said and kissed her cheek. "I think Daniel's going to get a complex, what with you and me leaving now and Aeda abandoning him in a couple of weeks."

Aeda flushed as Sam's head shot up and the older woman looked at her in disbelief. "You're leaving?" she asked.

Jack looked at Sam, then at Aeda. "You didn't tell her?" he asked.

Aeda shook her head. "I only just told Daniel, before Christmas. I was kind of waiting for the right time." She frowned at him and he was again reminded of just how much she looked like her mother.

"Oops."

Sam looked at Aeda for a long second, then crossed the room to where the younger woman stood. She looked back at the general. "We're going for coffee. Want some?"

"Nope. I've had my fill of the turpentine for today. I'll hold down the fort."

Sam linked her arm with Aeda's and pulled the younger woman out of the office and down the hall, towards the mess. "What's going on?"

"The professor that asked for my sabbatical is retiring. As such, the department chair asked me to come back at the beginning of the spring term, which is in a month."

"And you're going?" Sam actually sounded surprised.

Aeda stopped in the hallway, forcing Sam to either dislodge her arm or stop with her. She did both. "Yes, I'm going. My life is in Cambridge, Sam. My job, my house, my favorite bookstore. They're all in Cambridge."

Sam frowned. "Nothing's keeping you here?" she asked and Aeda understood her meaning immediately.

"I'm broken, Sam. No one wants broken things for very long."

"Aeda, you know that's not how he thinks about you."

She nodded, looked at her watch through watery eyes. "I've got to get home and feed Bear. Tell Jack I'll talk to him later." She headed back towards the elevators.

"Aeda, wait!" Sam called after her, but Aeda ignored her.

She rushed onto the elevator and hit the up button. At the surface, the doors opened and she bolted from the claustrophobic enclosure. In her haste, she never saw Daniel until she collided with him, her nose bumping off his chest.

"Ow," she said and rubbed the appendage.

"Aeda, are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sorry about that. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"You're leaving? I thought we were going to go over the Hiranimus text tonight."

She took a couple of steps away from him, towards the parking lot. "I have to get home to Bear. I'll call you later, though. We can work on it at my place if you want."

She waved and then walked quickly towards her car. If he hadn't been watching, she would have ran.

* * *

The cabin was, perhaps, the main thing Aeda would miss. Or at least she was trying to convince herself of that. She loved the rustic comfort of it and the sunsets were unlike anything she'd seen in Cambridge, or most of the world for that matter. The back porch was the perfect place to take it all in, and on her final night in Colorado, that's just what she was doing.

Her father's old cardigan was wrapped around her and she had a pair of Tim's old wool socks on her feet. Bear sat with his head on the top step, snoring slightly. The cabin was practically empty, save a suitcase and some bedding. She'd pack them into the trailer in the morning.

Jack and Sam, both of who were in town for a couple of days, had come by to wish her luck, help her pack, and to say good-bye. She had promised them she'd come for a visit, maybe in the summer when the University was a little less hectic. Teal'c had been with them, and he had surprised her by leaving her with a strong hug and an eloquent farewell.

It should have surprised her that Daniel wasn't with them, but it didn't. They hadn't spoken or even seen each other since the night he'd come over to work on the Hiranimus text. What had started out as an insignificant argument about dinner had turned into an all out verbal war. Things had been said that couldn't really be taken back – she'd called him a coward and had thrown him out when he'd challenged her reasons for going back to Cambridge. In the end, he'd tried to kiss her, perhaps to keep the words from spilling out, and in her anger she'd slapped him. They'd stared at each other, stunned, and Daniel had left her to cry on the front porch in the dark.

She hadn't told anyone about that night and her excuse to Jack for not coming in was that she had to pack and get her things in order before she left because she was leaving a week earlier than she'd originally planned. She knew he suspected something was amiss, but she couldn't face that part of her, couldn't explain it to someone else. It was ugly and it was not something she wanted to show the world. She hadn't felt anger like that since Tim's death and it scared her.

She was considering this when Bear's head perked up, alert to an intruder she could neither hear nor see. He growled, barked once, and stood.

"Hello?" a familiar voice called out of the dark and Bear's protective stance receded. He bounded down the steps, his nub of a tail wagging, and rushed at the dark outline that advanced from the side of the cabin.

It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but when they did she found herself staring at Daniel Jackson. She felt tears prick at her eyes and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep them at bay.

"Hi," she managed.

He came into the light and she saw the circles under his eyes, the tiredness that had settled onto his shoulders. She could also see the faint outline of a hand on his cheek and it broke her heart.

"Jack said you were leaving tomorrow."

She nodded. "I want to give myself enough time to settle back into things. I'm afraid of what my office is going to look like after six months of being gone."

He nodded. "Aeda, I…" He took a step closer, faltered.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," she said and her voice broke. He came closer, up the stairs, tried to reach for her, but she shrank from his touch. "No, don't touch me. Why would you want to? I hurt you, I physically hurt you. I don't know what happened that night, but it scared me. It still scares me." She clamped down on a sob. "You should hate me, Daniel, and I wouldn't blame you."

He looked at her and she saw the sadness in his face. "We were angry and sometimes we do things we don't mean when we're angry. And I don't hate you, Aeda. I think…" He stopped himself.

"What?" she asked.

"I've never met anyone like you. I've never been more challenged by a person. I've never felt more focused than when I'm working with you." He took her arms, pulled her up to her full height, and leaned in so that his forehead rested against hers. "I haven't loved anyone since Sha're, mostly because I haven't allowed myself to. You broke through that."

"I slapped you."

"Trust me, others have done worse, or haven't you heard the story about how I became a Go'uld sex slave?"

She couldn't help but laugh. He kissed her then, wiped away the tears that had pooled on her cheeks, and wrapped his arms around her. They stood that way for what seemed a long time.

"It's cold out here," Daniel said.

"There's a fire in the living room. And blankets."

He grinned. "Why, Ms. Harrison, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Is it working?" she asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Actually, yes. Quite effectively."

This time, she grinned mischievously. "I can tell," she said.

In a cliché she would never forget, he swept her off her feet and carried her inside the cabin. He swung the door shut with his foot, leaving Bear on the porch. The Boxer whined once, decided it was a lost cause, and settled in for the night.

* * *

She quietly dressed with Bear standing sentinel at the front door. Daniel was asleep on the floor by the dying fire. The bedding belonged to Jack, so she wasn't worried about not taking it with her. She stuffed her rumpled pjs into the suitcase and zipped it up. She set the bad down near Bear, who looked up at her with something akin to sadness. She scratched his ears and he yawned.

"I know, buddy," she said softly.

She took the key from her key ring and set it on the island in the kitchen. She had comprised a note early on in the morning when she'd first awakened. It sat underneath the key and had a simple message written on it: "Boston is beautiful in the spring. Love, A." Below that was her phone number. She stared at it for a moment longer before finally leaving the kitchen.

Bear was still standing guard at the door. She glanced into the living room. He was still asleep, his hair sticking out in all sorts of directions. She smiled and picked up her bag.

"Come on, Bear," she said quietly and they went out the front door.

She threw the suitcase into the backseat and Bear jumped into the hatch. She took a minute to look at the cabin and the lake beyond it, then she got in the Range Rover and she and Bear said good-bye their short-lived Colorado life.


	9. Actually, This Is The End

No groans of protest, please. :-) The story is finished, finally, and I'm fairly happy with it. What say you, readers?

Thanks for reading and reviewing and who knows, maybe Aeda and Daniel will make an appearance in another story...

They're so not mine. Well, Aeda is, but you're welcome to borrow her so long as you ask...

* * *

It was final exam time at Harvard, which inevitably meant extra long office hours and a headache that didn't go away until graduation. Aeda was buried under her Experimental Theories exam essays. She'd been reading them for two days without actually making any headway. Even her assistant had tried to help, but after the fifth poorly written diatribe on the existence of wormholes, he'd packed his messenger bag and had retreated from the Physics department. She couldn't blame him – her students were doing an excellent job of sucking at their choice of major.

She wrote "73" in angry red numbers on the front page of the essay in front of her and tossed it over the side of her desk. It landed with an audible thump on the pile of crap that had already accumulated.

She picked up another essay, took a deep breath, and read the introduction. It made sense, so she marked it with a check and moved on to the next section. It also made sense. By the end of the essay, her spirits were lifting. She graded this one higher – an "88" – and placed it carefully on the corner of her desk. Reverence for the first essay not to make her head hurt.

Her hostility towards the essays in front her was only partially caused by the stupidity she had been witness to over the previous two days. Mostly, it had to do with the resentment towards a certain archeologist that had been building since her second week back on the east coast.

He hadn't called her since their first official, long distance phone conversation. He'd told her he'd be out of town for a couple of months, but that he'd be back the end of April and that he'd call her from the airport on his way to Boston.

He hadn't.

At first, she worried that something had extended his trip with the Daedalus. He was, after all, a naturally clumsy person. Then, when Jack let it slip that Daniel hadn't even made it to the Daedalus, her worry turned to anger, then to resentment, and now she was just bitter. A lot of emotions to go through in a little less than a month.

Her handwriting turned vicious and she scrawled a meager "59" on the essay in front of her. She hadn't even read it yet. It made her pause – perhaps taking out her aggressions on her student's essays wasn't the best idea. After all, she was sure they had tried and the subject matter was rather heavy. She crossed the "59" out and wrote a "70" next to it. Even if it deserved the "59" she was too tired to care and at least he would pass.

She took a deep breath and put her head down on her desk. It wasn't really fair to blame Daniel, she supposed. Maybe she should have tried harder. Tim had always told her she was low maintenance, easy to please. She suspected, though, that this trait made her high maintenance. She didn't expect great things and yet, Tim had always felt compelled to present her with great things.

Maybe, the postulated,Daniel was experiencing buyer's remorse – denying her existence would be a very easy way to drop her from his life. She wouldn't fight for him, wouldn't confront him about it. She'd ride it out and if, in the end, he disappeared for good, she'd accept it.

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Her assistant had had the right idea, bailing on her. She'd give anything for the exams to be graded and her office to be paper free.

A knock onthe door didn't bring her directly back to the present. She reasoned that if she kept her head down, whoever it was would probably not see her. Another knock. She sighed and called for the intruder to come in, though she never lifted her head.

"Office hours are over for today. Come back tomorrow when I'll be more inclined to give a rat's ass," she said as the door opened.

"Your sign says office hours are from nine to six. It's just now four-thirty."

Her head came up at the recognition of the voice. Daniel Jackson stood in her office, the very portrait of an academic – jeans, an Oxford shirt open at the neck, and a corduroy blazer, complete with elbow patches, draped over his left arm. He smiled at her and she noticed that his glasses were gone.

"Hi," she said.

His smile widened. "Hi." He pointed to the door. "I can come back tomorrow, when you're more inclined to give a rat's ass."

She shook her head, too surprised to really answer. She'd been thinking about him all day and there he was, standing in front of her. She had an irrational moment where she considered thinking about a large brownie sundae, but changed her mind at the last second.

She stood, came around the desk, and reached for his arm. It was solid and radiating a slight warmth. She pinched him.

"Ow," he said and jerked his arm away. "What was that for?"

"I had to make sure you were real."

"Hallucinating lately, are we?" He rubbed the spot on his arm where she'd pinched him and she couldn't help but grin.

"You never even got on the Daedalus, Daniel."

He frowned. "Jack has a big mouth." She nodded. "It's a long story, which I promise to tell you,that involves pirates and King Arthur and a whole bunch of other things, including a plague that almost wiped out most of the Earth."

"I may have read something about that," she said slowly. He stared at her in awe. "What? I'm a Harvard professor. I spend about six hours a day at home and I'm usually sleeping. You tell me when I'm supposed to find time for the news."

"Valid point."

They stared at each other for a moment. "Well, this is awkward," she said.

"Yeah." He cocked his head at her. "I can't believe you thought I'd _abandoned_ you."

She scoffed. "I never said abandoned."

"And besides," he continued, as though she'd never spoken, "you're the one who abandoned me. I woke up, all warm and fuzzy, and you were gone."

"Wait, warm and fuzzy?"

Again, he continued as though she'd never spoken. "I was all alone in a bundle of blankets."

She rolled her eyes. "We had this discussion. I don't do long good-byes."

"I can see that."

She frowned. "Did you fly cross country just to mock me or were there other reasons attached to that decision?"

"Actually, yes, there _were_ other reasons." He closed the door and, for a moment, Aeda's heart stopped.

"Do tell, Professor."

He was quick. He swept her up and had her pinned against the door before she could utter a sound of disagreement. Her arms went around his neck and reflexively her legs wrapped around his torso. "I love you, Aeda," he said thickly.

She looked at him, felt the heat radiate from his gaze, and knew that at some point she'd fallen for him as well. She smiled. "I love you, too," she said and kissed him.

When they broke apart, she took a deep breath. "Now, put me down before we break this door and the whole department realizes I'm a naughty librarian in disguise."

He laughed, loudly and wholeheartedly. When he set her back on the ground, she didn't let go of him. Instead, they stood in her office, surrounded by each other, and marveled at the irony of it all.

Widow meets widower – she'd have to remember to thank Jack.


End file.
